US teen sentenced to 15 years for Indian-American's murder

A US teenager has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for beating to death an Indian-American computer scientist in 2010.

New Brunswick State Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz sentenced Julian Daley to the maximum of 15 years in prison on charges of aggravated manslaughter and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault in the killing of Divyendu Sinha, the My Central New Jersey reported.

Daley was also sentenced to five years on an unrelated charge of burglary, which would run concurrent to the 15-year-sentence.

The judge said Daley must serve 85 per cent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Daley, who was 16 at the time of the crime, had entered into a plea bargain with the state in exchange for his testimony at other trials.

Daley was among five teenagers who had been charged in connection with the beating death of Sinha, his wife Alka and two sons as they were out for a late night walk on June 25, 2010, near their home.

A group of Old Bridge teens punched Sinha in the head, who died three days later at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

His two sons had minor injuries and his wife was not hurt.

Last month, the other three teens were sentenced to six months each by Ferencz for their roles in the crime.

During the sentencing, Sinha's widow said that during the three and a half years she has been in court since her husband's death, "Daley has never said anything that can make me feel that he was remorseful."

His conduct has shown that he is not someone who liked to follow the rules, "because of his conduct, I became a widow and my sons have no father," she said.

She asked the judge to sentence Daley to the maximum sentence allowed under the plea bargain.

"What I lost, he can't give back," she said.

"He had no right to take what I had."

Ferencz said he was also not convinced that Daley would not commit any crime again given Daley's history.

"It is important also to note that there must be a clear, concise message sent to the community that one should be free to walk in one's community, to walk with one’s family, free from physical attack," Ferencz said.

Terming it a tragedy for both the Sinha and Daley families, the judge said everything he read tells him that "the (Daley) family tried everything in their power to steer him in a different direction, unfortunately, unsuccessfully."

Dressed in green prison garb, Daley apologised to the Sinha family, his family and the judge saying while his apology will not bring Sinha back, "I hope and pray you can find it in your heart to forgive me some day."

"I wish I could rewind the clock and undo everything that has happened, but I can't," Daley said.

Image: Julian Daley